Gloves for freezing temperatures

Glove solution

  • Photography specific gloves

    Votes: 3 42.9%

  • Liners + Ski glove

    Votes: 4 57.1%
  • Total voters
    7
J

jamiek

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Name
Jamie
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Hi,

So after going up Snowdon on Saturday and my fingers nearly falling off, I'm after some better gloves.

I've done a bit of searching and believe I have two options to keep them warm.

Getting a pair of specific photography/shooting gloves where my thumb and finger can pop out e.g. the Vallerret Photography Glove or the Sealskinz Shooting Gloves.

Or get a pair of thin liner gloves and putting some heavy duty ski type ones on top when I'm not shooting e.g. the GripGrab Insulator Long Finger Gloves with Men's Burton GORE-TEX® Glove over the top.

My own pro's and con's aren't helping me decide...

Photography specific gloves
Pro's - Only need one pair of gloves, don't need to take a pair off when shooting.
Con's - Tips of thumb/finger may fall off, doubt will be as warm overall

Liners + Ski glove
Pro's - Should be warmer, thumb/finger tip won't fall off
Con's - Hand might not be as warm when shooting as will have to take ski gloves off

Interested to know what other people recommend / products, and why :)
 
A decent pair of ski gloves will be far better and cheaper than "photography" ones where the thumb and finger pop out. Just take the glove off for the minutes or less you need to use your fingers.
 
Chemical handwarmers? Anybody tried those electric socks and gloves? Apart from that I agree about ski gloves.
 
My wife is out in all weathers as she runs a livery yard, along with sorting out her own horses and she swears by Sealskinz they seem to last about 2 years which is quite a lot considering the abuse they get. For me if it is realy cold you can't beat mittens I have some Gortex snowboard ones I wear over my thin thisolate gloves if it is wet and really cold like -20 at the top of a mountain and some woolly ones with fingerless gloves built in I also use for shooting and photography if it is dry, they were less than a tenner and have lasted years and I have never had cold fingers even in freezing conditions standing around for hours.

like these https://www.amazon.co.uk/Highlander...d=1512992978&sr=8-3&keywords=shooting+mittens
 
You can get thin "inner gloves" to wear inside thicker gloves or mittens. That way you can take off the thicker glove but still have some insulation while working.
 
Mittens are warmer if you are going to take them off to use the camera etc.
 
sirch said:
You can get thin "inner gloves" to wear inside thicker gloves or mittens. That way you can take off the thicker glove but still have some insulation while working.
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I wear silk inners under my sheepskin lined bike gauntlets. Not for photography - the gauntlets are a bit overkill for that! I wear some ski gloves over the inners when it's cold and we're out and about.
 
You can get gloves called fold-back so they are like fingerless and standard in one so ideal for photography

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Try leaving a remote release attached or use a wireless one works for me and thermal liners with mittens work well
 
I have a couple of pairs of gloves I use. A gloves of thinner North Face E Tip gloves (the e tip doesn't seem to work so well now, they are several years old) and a pair of sealskinz gloves. Neither have the fold back finger and I find I can operate the controls on my camera fine. The sealskinz gloves are warm and waterproof but the outer material does soak up water if it's really throwing it down (to be honest most gloves would do this in really wet weather). It's weird being able to wring out the gloves yet have a dry hand beneath.
 
It sounds like most people go with the liner + bigger glove route.

Thanks all!
 
Paddysnapper said:
Fishing gloves made of neoprene from Aldi, superb for photography they have fold back finger tips on the thumb and index finger.
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+ 1 for the neoprene gloves, I've used them a lot over the years and they actually get warmer in icy cold water lol
 
Paddysnapper said:
Fishing gloves made of neoprene from Aldi, superb for photography they have fold back finger tips on the thumb and index finger.
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Is neoprene a good insulator when not wet? Or would something like merino wool be better?
 
I read a number of reviews on the Vallerret gloves and bit the bullet a few weeks ago, buying the Markhof model for both myself and my husband. They sounded fantastic. In reality, the sizing seemed way off in general and the thumb especially was way too long. There was no overlap in the fabric where the finger and thumb fold back. I have a pair of Sealskinz all-weather gloves already, and I’d rather butcher them and cut my own flip-back finger than keep the Vallerret gloves. Both pairs got sent back.
 
I just use a pair of these - nice and cheap and enough dexterity for controlling the camera, although haven't been out with them for any longer than for a few hours, and they wouldn't be suitable for wet conditions.

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P.S. Perhaps not suitable for anything above ground level!! Perhaps not for Snowdon, lol
 
When it's really cold, I wear a pair of MacWets underneath my fingerless gloves. The MacWets are thin enough that I can do everything with the camera, including change the battery or SD card, and keep the ends of my fingers away from bare metal. Not quite so effective in really wet conditions, but still better than nothing.
 
Fishing gloves from go outdoors ? Less than £15 and fingers fold back! Get cable release and put in pocket!
 
jamiek said:
Is neoprene a good insulator when not wet? Or would something like merino wool be better?
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Yes neoprene is a good insulator but I think one thing against it in gloves is relative stiffness. Nobody has mentioned it before but being able to move your fingers about in loose fitting gloves is a benefit. The best pair of gloves I’ve had were a pair of waterproof so-called ski gloves that were very cheap from Blacks. They were rather loose fitting and though some benefit might have come from the air trapped by the wrist fastener I think that though they were quite thin material the finger movement helped.
I used to be like @Dave70D above and just wore a pair of wooden fingerless gloves in all weathers in the Dales in Winter and though I never suffered from cold hands they were often so numb that I couldn’t turn a car key without using both hands. I don’t think it did my hands any favours for later life so I’d recommend keeping your hands warm if possible ;-)
 
dave.hallett said:
Definitely not recommended! ;)
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Yes, I think my point is that can get adapted to cold weather (and to hot) but maybe it’s not always a good idea to take it to extremes ;) Wool is very good though but if it is good enough quality it’s very heavy compared to modern fabrics. Remember this guys who climbed/nearly climbed Everest in not much more than sweaters and tweed jackets.
 
sphexx said:
Yes, I think my point is that can get adapted to cold weather (and to hot) but maybe it’s not always a good idea to take it to extremes ;) Wool is very good though but if it is good enough quality it’s very heavy compared to modern fabrics. Remember this guys who climbed/nearly climbed Everest in not much more than sweaters and tweed jackets.
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Bit of a misnomer that one. Whilst not synthetic quite a bit of research went into what they wore. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5076634.stm

For the OP i'd suggest fingerless gloves or ones which allow the thumb and index finger to be exposed and lightweight shell mittens to wear over the top of them when you are walking in and out.
 
Wayne Els said:
Bit of a misnomer that one. Whilst not synthetic quite a bit of research went into what they wore. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5076634.stm
.
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Very interesting and surprising that it was lighter. Also interesting is “level of movement the clothing allowed - which can mean the difference between life and death when at high altitude.
"The patented Pivot sleeve of the jacket enabled me to lift my arm to full extent when cutting steps with an ice axe without displacing the warm layers of air.l
Which I think supports my experience that having air space within gloves is a good thing ;)
 
To paraphrase The Terrier Song:

So always remember your fingers,
Protect them from wet and from cold,
For the use of a digit for its owner
Can never be measured in gold
 
I'd mix the two ideas... Get a thin liner pair to wear under the ones where the finger pops off... Best of both worlds.
No taking off outer pair, and fingertips still somewhat protected...


Edit - also worth noting that a good way to get heat to your fingers is to physically force warm blood out to them. This can be achieved by doing "arm circles", you know, the typical warmup exercise everyone had to do before P.E.... Doing them with relaxed, limp arms you'l feel the blood being pushed to your hands via centrifugal force... A bonus side effect is that it will warm up the rest of you slightly too. :)

And as an added note - when looking to keep extremities warm, think about the route your blood takes... All too often you see people layer up 2-3 pairs of socks in their thick rugged boots, and then act shocked when their feet are still frozen, when they have nothing more than a pair of jeans on their legs. This is effectively like running some exposed pipe down to your shed and then wondering why the radiator down there doesn't get very warm.
 
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jimmyjamjojo said:
I'd mix the two ideas... Get a thin liner pair to wear under the ones where the finger pops off... Best of both worlds.
No taking off outer pair, and fingertips still somewhat protected...
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This is how the heat company ones work. They also have pockets where warmers can be inserted too.
 
I use two pairs when mountain biking in the height of winter. Hands remain warm. Having that double layer acts as a better barrier to keep the heat in. Think of it like single vs double glazing.

dont bother with photography gloves.
 
Mark Johnson said:
I use Thinsulate, from Millets. Thin enough to do most switches buttons, and very warm..........
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I've also found a basic pair of (own-brand?) Millets gloves with a Thinsulate layer effective (I once used them for a couple of hours at 12,000 feet). It will partly depend on your gear, though. A medium to large SLR with well-spaced buttons and large dials should be no problem, but a smaller mirrorless could be fiddly. Take your camera with you when you go glove shopping - you may well find there's no need to use bare fingers for most things.
 
Cheap gloves for when I'm on the bike and it's like -2+ .... otherwise , man up. I never use any kind of gloves when operating a camera, it seems ridonkulous to me :D
 
I use MacWet gloves. Not the best insulators but they allow me to use all the controls on my cameras and Radio Control transmitters (for flying very fast RC gliders in winter gales) without any noticeable difference from bare hands. They keep my pinkies just warm enough to function properly and actually give abetter grip with VERY little (if any) loss of feeling.

Note I suffer from Raynaud's disease so I have crap circulation - but these gloves do the job for me. Well worth a look?
 
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